Optimization of search space and sounding reference signal placement for improved decoding timeline

ABSTRACT

Aspects of the disclosure relate to wireless communication systems configured to provide techniques for strategically placing a sounding reference signal (SRS) within a slot to improve the decoding timeline. Aspects of the disclosure further relate to wireless communication systems configured to optimize the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) search space within a slot to improve the decoding timeline. Features may also include placing the SRS near the end of the slot, such as after the uplink user data traffic and the corresponding uplink demodulation reference signal (DMRS). In addition, features may also include identifying the PDCCH search space within the slot based on at least a slot index of the slot. Other aspects, embodiments, and features are also claimed and described.

PRIORITY CLAIM

The present Application for Patent is a Continuation of Non-Provisionalapplication Ser. No. 15/812,994 filed in the U.S. Patent and TrademarkOffice on Nov. 14, 2017, the entire content of which is incorporatedherein by reference as if fully set forth below in its entirety and forall applicable purposes. Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 15/812,994claims priority to and the benefit of Provisional Patent Application No.62/422,180 filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Nov. 15,2016, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference asif fully set forth below in its entirety and for all applicablepurposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The technology discussed below relates generally to wirelesscommunication systems, and more particularly, to optimization of thesearch space for the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and theplacement of the sounding reference signal within a slot in wirelesscommunication systems.

INTRODUCTION

In a fourth-generation (4G) wireless communication network that followsstandards for an evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (eUTRAN),also commonly known as LTE), over-the-air transmissions of informationare assigned to various physical channels or signals. Very generally,these physical channels or signals carry user data traffic and controlinformation. For example, a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) isthe main user data traffic bearing downlink channel, while the PhysicalUplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) is the main user data traffic bearinguplink channel. A Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) carriesdownlink control information (DCI) providing downlink assignments and/oruplink grants of time-frequency resources to a user equipment (UE) or agroup of UEs. A Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) carries uplinkcontrol information including acknowledgement information, channelquality information, scheduling requests, andmultiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) feedback information.

In addition, various uplink and downlink signals may be used to aid inchannel estimation and coherent demodulation. Examples of such signalsinclude downlink reference signals, demodulation reference signals andsounding reference signals. In many existing systems, these channels andsignals are time-divided into frames, and the frames are furthersubdivided into subframes, slots, and symbols.

In general, subframes or slots may follow a pattern where the controlinformation is time division multiplexed (TDM) with the datainformation, with the control information being transmitted at thebeginning and/or end of a subframe or slot. Next generation (e.g., 5G orNew Radio) wireless communication networks may provide lower overheadfor control information, lower latency, shorter symbol durations, andhigher peak data rates, while still demanding higher reliability.Efficient techniques for improving the decoding timeline within a cellmay enable wireless communication networks to meet one or more of thesestringent requirements.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF SOME EXAMPLES

The following presents a summary of one or more aspects of the presentdisclosure, in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects.This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated featuresof the disclosure, and is intended neither to identify key or criticalelements of all aspects of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope ofany or all aspects of the disclosure. Its sole purpose is to presentsome concepts of one or more aspects of the disclosure in a form as aprelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

Various aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques forstrategically placing a sounding reference signal (SRS) within a slot toimprove the decoding timeline. Aspects of the disclosure further providetechniques for optimizing the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)search space within a slot to improve the decoding timeline.

In one aspect of the disclosure, a method of wireless communication isprovided.

The method includes receiving downlink control information in a downlinkcontrol region of a slot of a plurality of slots, transmitting uplinkinformation in an uplink region of the slot, in which the uplinkinformation comprises at least one of uplink control information oruplink user data traffic corresponding to the downlink controlinformation, and transmitting a sounding reference signal in the uplinkregion of the slot after the uplink information.

Another aspect of the disclosure provides a scheduled entity within awireless communication network. The scheduled entity includes atransceiver, a memory, and a processor communicatively coupled to thetransceiver and the memory. The processor can be configured as aprocessor circuit or circuitry capable of executing sets of instructionsand comprising internal hardware enabling said execution. The processoris configured to receive downlink control information in a downlinkcontrol region of a slot of a plurality of slots, transmit uplinkinformation in an uplink region of the slot, in which the uplinkinformation comprises at least one of uplink control information oruplink user data traffic corresponding to the downlink controlinformation, and transmit a sounding reference signal in the uplinkregion of the slot after the uplink information.

Another aspect of the disclosure provides a method of wirelesscommunication. The method includes receiving a slot of a plurality ofslots, in which the slot includes a physical downlink control channel(PDCCH), and the PDCCH includes downlink control information (DCI) for aset of one or more scheduled entities. The method further includesidentifying a search space includes a set of resource elements withinthe slot based on slot information related to the slot, in which theslot information includes at least a time-varying parameter associatedwith the plurality of slots. The method further includes blind decodinga plurality of decoding candidates within the set of resource elementsto determine whether at least one valid DCI exists for a scheduledentity of the set of one or more scheduled entities.

Another aspect of the disclosure provides a scheduled entity within awireless communication network. The scheduled entity includes atransceiver, a memory, and a processor communicatively coupled to thetransceiver and the memory. The processor can be configured as aprocessor circuit or circuitry capable of executing sets of instructionsand comprising internal hardware enabling said execution. The processoris configured to receive a slot of a plurality of slots, in which theslot includes a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), and the PDCCHincludes downlink control information (DCI) for a set of one or morescheduled entities. The processor is further configured to identify asearch space includes a set of resource elements within the slot basedon slot information related to the slot, in which the slot informationincludes at least a time-varying parameter associated with the pluralityof slots. The processor is further configured to blind decode aplurality of decoding candidates within the set of resource elements todetermine whether at least one valid DCI exists for a scheduled entityof the set of one or more scheduled entities.

These and other aspects of the invention will become more fullyunderstood upon a review of the detailed description, which follows.Other aspects, features, and embodiments of the present invention willbecome apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, upon reviewingthe following description of specific, exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures. Whilefeatures of the present invention may be discussed relative to certainembodiments and figures below, all embodiments of the present inventioncan include one or more of the advantageous features discussed herein.In other words, while one or more embodiments may be discussed as havingcertain advantageous features, one or more of such features may also beused in accordance with the various embodiments of the inventiondiscussed herein. In similar fashion, while exemplary embodiments may bediscussed below as device, system, or method embodiments it should beunderstood that such exemplary embodiments can be implemented in variousdevices, systems, and methods.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a radio accessnetwork.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of ascheduling entity communicating with one or more scheduled entities.

FIG. 3 is schematic diagram illustrating organization of wirelessresources in an air interface utilizing orthogonal frequency divisionalmultiplexing (OFDM).

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a slot that may be usedin some networks according to some aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating another example of a slot that may beused in some networks according to some aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardwareimplementation for a scheduling entity employing a processing systemaccording to some aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardwareimplementation for a scheduled entity employing a processing systemaccording to some aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating examples of slots containing differentplacements of the sounding reference signal according to some aspects ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process for wirelesscommunication with optimized placement of the sounding reference signalin an uplink-centric slot according to some aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating another exemplary process forwireless communication with optimized placement of the soundingreference signal in an uplink-centric slot according to some aspects ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating another exemplary process forwireless communication with optimized placement of the soundingreference signal in an uplink-centric slot according to some aspects ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart illustrating another exemplary process forwireless communication with optimized placement of the soundingreference signal in an uplink-centric slot according to some aspects ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a slot containing slotinformation and an optimized search space according to some aspects ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of slots containing slotinformation and an optimized search space according to some aspects ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process for wirelesscommunication with optimized search spaces in slots according to someaspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart illustrating another exemplary process forwireless communication with optimized search spaces in slots accordingto some aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 17 is a flow chart illustrating another exemplary process forwireless communication with optimized search spaces in slots accordingto some aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process for wirelesscommunication with optimized search spaces in slots according to someaspects of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appendeddrawings is intended as a description of various configurations and isnot intended to represent the only configurations in which the conceptsdescribed herein may be practiced. The detailed description includesspecific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understandingof various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that these concepts may be practiced without these specificdetails. In some instances, well-known structures and components areshown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

The various concepts presented throughout this disclosure may beimplemented across a broad variety of telecommunication systems, networkarchitectures, and communication standards. Referring now to FIG. 1, asan illustrative example without limitation, a schematic illustration ofa radio access network 100 is provided. In some examples, the radioaccess network 100 may be a network employing continued evolved wirelesscommunication technologies. This may include, for example, a fifthgeneration (5G) or New Radio (NR) wireless communication technologybased on a set of standards (e.g., issued by 3GPP, www.3gpp.org). Forexample, standards defined by the 3GPP following LTE-Advanced or by the3GPP2 following CDMA2000 may be considered 5G. Standards may alsoinclude pre-3GPP efforts specified by Verizon Technical Forum and KoreaTelecom SIG.

In other examples, the radio access network 100 may be a networkemploying a third generation (3G) wireless communication technology or afourth generation (4G) wireless communication technology. For example,standards promulgated by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) may be considered3G or 4G, including, but not limited to, Long-Term Evolution (LTE),LTE-Advanced, Evolved Packet System (EPS), and Universal MobileTelecommunication System (UMTS). Additional examples of various radioaccess technologies based on one or more of the above-listed 3GPPstandards include, but are not limited to, Universal Terrestrial RadioAccess (UTRA), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (eUTRA),General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Enhanced Data Rates for GSMEvolution (EDGE). Examples of such legacy standards defined by the 3rdGeneration Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) include, but are not limitedto, CDMA2000 and Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB). Other examples ofstandards employing 3G/4G wireless communication technology include theIEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) standard and other suitable standards.

While aspects and embodiments are described in this application byillustration to some examples, those skilled in the art will understandthat additional implementations and use cases may come about in manydifferent arrangements and scenarios. Innovations described herein maybe implemented across many differing platform types, devices, systems,shapes, sizes, packaging arrangements. For example, embodiments and/oruses may come about via integrated chip embodiments and othernon-module-component based devices (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles,communication devices, computing devices, industrial equipment,retail/purchasing devices, medical devices, AI-enabled devices, etc.).While some examples may or may not be specifically directed to use casesor applications, a wide assortment of applicability of describedinnovations may occur. Implementations may range a spectrum fromchip-level or modular components to non-modular, non-chip-levelimplementations and further to aggregate, distributed, or OEM devices orsystems incorporating one or more aspects of the described innovations.In some practical settings, devices incorporating described aspects andfeatures may also necessarily include additional components and featuresfor implementation and practice of claimed and described embodiments.For example, transmission and reception of wireless signals necessarilyincludes a number of components for analog and digital purposes (e.g.,hardware components including antenna, RF-chains, power amplifiers,modulators, buffer, processor(s), interleaver, adders/summers, etc.). Itis intended that innovations described herein may be practiced in a widevariety of devices, chip-level components, systems, distributedarrangements, end-user devices, etc. of varying sizes, shapes andconstitution.

The geographic region covered by the radio access network 100 may bedivided into a number of cellular regions (cells) that can be uniquelyidentified by a user equipment (UE) based on an identificationbroadcasted over a geographical area from one access point or basestation. FIG. 1 illustrates macrocells 102, 104, and 106, and a smallcell 108, each of which may include one or more sectors (not shown). Asector is a sub-area of a cell. All sectors within one cell are servedby the same base station. A radio link within a sector can be identifiedby a single logical identification belonging to that sector. In a cellthat is divided into sectors, the multiple sectors within a cell can beformed by groups of antennas with each antenna responsible forcommunication with UEs in a portion of the cell.

In general, a respective base station (BS) serves each cell. Broadly, abase station is a network element in a radio access network responsiblefor radio transmission and reception in one or more cells to or from aUE. A BS may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as a basetransceiver station (BTS), a radio base station, a radio transceiver, atransceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set(ESS), an access point (AP), a Node B (NB), an eNode B (eNB), a gNode B(gNB) or some other suitable terminology.

In FIG. 1, two base stations 110 and 112 are shown in cells 102 and 104;and a third base station 114 is shown controlling a remote radio head(RRH) 116 in cell 106. That is, a base station can have an integratedantenna or can be connected to an antenna or RRH by feeder cables. Inthe illustrated example, the cells 102, 104, and 106 may be referred toas macrocells, as the base stations 110, 112, and 114 support cellshaving a large size. Further, a base station 118 is shown in the smallcell 108 (e.g., a microcell, picocell, femtocell, home base station,home Node B, home eNode B, etc.) which may overlap with one or moremacrocells. In this example, the cell 108 may be referred to as a smallcell, as the base station 118 supports a cell having a relatively smallsize. Cell sizing can be done according to system design as well ascomponent constraints. It is to be understood that the radio accessnetwork 100 may include any number of wireless base stations and cells.Further, a relay node may be deployed to extend the size or coveragearea of a given cell. The base stations 110, 112, 114, 118 providewireless access points to a core network for any number of mobileapparatuses.

FIG. 1 further includes a quadcopter or drone 120, which may beconfigured to function as a base station. That is, in some examples, acell may not necessarily be stationary, and the geographic area of thecell may move according to the location of a mobile base station such asthe quadcopter 120.

In general, base stations may include a backhaul interface forcommunication with a backhaul portion (not shown) of the network. Thebackhaul may provide a link between a base station and a core network(not shown), and in some examples, the backhaul may provideinterconnection between the respective base stations. The core networkmay be a part of a wireless communication system and may be independentof the radio access technology used in the radio access network. Varioustypes of backhaul interfaces may be employed, such as a direct physicalconnection, a virtual network, or the like using any suitable transportnetwork.

The radio access network 100 is illustrated supporting wirelesscommunication for multiple mobile apparatuses. A mobile apparatus iscommonly referred to as user equipment (UE) in standards andspecifications promulgated by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project(3GPP), but may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as amobile station (MS), a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriberunit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wirelessdevice, a wireless communications device, a remote device, a mobilesubscriber station, an access terminal (AT), a mobile terminal, awireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a terminal, a useragent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology. AUE may be an apparatus that provides a user with access to networkservices.

Within the present document, a “mobile” apparatus need not necessarilyhave a capability to move, and may be stationary. The term mobileapparatus or mobile device broadly refers to a diverse array of devicesand technologies. For example, some non-limiting examples of a mobileapparatus include a mobile, a cellular (cell) phone, a smart phone, asession initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal computer(PC), a notebook, a netbook, a smartbook, a tablet, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), and a broad array of embedded systems, e.g.,corresponding to an “Internet of things” (IoT). A mobile apparatus mayadditionally be an automotive or other transportation vehicle, a remotesensor or actuator, a robot or robotics device, a satellite radio, aglobal positioning system (GPS) device, an object tracking device, adrone, a multi-copter, a quad-copter, a remote control device, aconsumer and/or wearable device, such as eyewear, a wearable camera, avirtual reality device, a smart watch, a health or fitness tracker, adigital audio player (e.g., MP3 player), a camera, a game console, amedical device, implantable devices, industrial equipment, and manyother devices sized, shaped, and configured for use by users.

Within the radio access network 100, the cells may include UEs that maybe in communication with one or more sectors of each cell. For example,UEs 122 and 124 may be in communication with base station 110; UEs 126and 128 may be in communication with base station 112; UEs 130 and 132may be in communication with base station 114 by way of RRH 116; UE 134may be in communication with base station 118; and UE 136 may be incommunication with mobile base station 120. Here, each base station 110,112, 114, 118, and 120 may be configured to provide an access point to acore network (not shown) for all the UEs in the respective cells. UEsmay comprise a number of hardware structural components sized, shaped,and arranged to help in communication; such components can includeantennas, antenna arrays, RF chains, amplifiers, one or more processors,etc. electrically coupled to each other.

In another example, a mobile network node (e.g., quadcopter 120) may beconfigured to function as a UE. For example, the quadcopter 120 mayoperate within cell 102 by communicating with base station 110. In someaspects of the present disclosure, two or more UE (e.g., UEs 126 and128) may communicate with each other using peer to peer (P2P) orsidelink signals 127 without relaying that communication through a basestation (e.g., base station 112).

Unicast or broadcast transmissions of control information and/or trafficinformation (e.g., user data traffic) from a base station (e.g., basestation 110) to one or more UEs (e.g., UEs 122 and 124) may be referredto as downlink (DL) transmission, while transmissions of controlinformation and/or traffic information originating at a UE (e.g., UE122) may be referred to as uplink (UL) transmissions. In addition, theuplink and/or downlink control information and/or traffic informationmay be time-divided into frames, subframes, slots, and/or symbols. Asused herein, a symbol may refer to a unit of time that, in an orthogonalfrequency division multiplexed (OFDM) waveform, carries one resourceelement (RE) per sub-carrier. A slot may carry 7 or 14 OFDM symbols. Asubframe may refer to a duration of 1 ms. Multiple subframes or slotsmay be grouped together to form a single frame or radio frame. Ofcourse, these definitions are not required, and any suitable scheme fororganizing waveforms may be utilized, and various time divisions of thewaveform may have any suitable duration.

The air interface in the radio access network 100 may utilize one ormore multiplexing and multiple access algorithms to enable simultaneouscommunication of the various devices. For example, multiple access foruplink (UL) or reverse link transmissions from UEs 122 and 124 to basestation 110 may be provided utilizing time division multiple access(TDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency divisionmultiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access(OFDMA), sparse code multiple access (SCMA), discrete Fourier transformspread orthogonal frequency division multiple access (DFT-s-OFDMA),resource spread multiple access (RSMA), or other suitable multipleaccess schemes. Further, multiplexing downlink (DL) or forward linktransmissions from the base station 110 to UEs 122 and 124 may beprovided utilizing time division multiplexing (TDM), code divisionmultiplexing (CDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonalfrequency division multiplexing (OFDM), sparse code multiplexing (SCM),discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM) or other suitable multiplexing schemes.

Further, the air interface in the radio access network 100 may utilizeone or more duplexing algorithms. Duplex refers to a point-to-pointcommunication link where both endpoints can communicate with one anotherin both directions. Full duplex means both endpoints can simultaneouslycommunicate with one another. Half duplex means only one endpoint cansend information to the other at a time. In a wireless link, a fullduplex channel generally relies on physical isolation of a transmitterand receiver, and suitable interference cancellation technologies. Fullduplex emulation is frequently implemented for wireless links byutilizing frequency division duplex (FDD) or time division duplex (TDD).In FDD, transmissions in different directions operate at differentcarrier frequencies. In TDD, transmissions in different directions on agiven channel are separated from one another using time divisionmultiplexing. That is, at some times the channel is dedicated fortransmissions in one direction, while at other times the channel isdedicated for transmissions in the other direction, where the directionmay change very rapidly, e.g., several times per subframe.

In the radio access network 100, the ability for a UE to communicatewhile moving, independent of their location, is referred to as mobility.The various physical channels between the UE and the radio accessnetwork are generally set up, maintained, and released under the controlof an access and mobility management function (AMF), which may include asecurity context management function (SCMF) that manages the securitycontext for both the control plane and the user plane functionality anda security anchor function (SEAF) that performs authentication. Invarious aspects of the disclosure, a radio access network 100 mayutilize DL-based mobility or UL-based mobility to enable mobility andhandovers (i.e., the transfer of a UE's connection from one radiochannel to another). In a network configured for DL-based mobility,during a call with a scheduling entity, or at any other time, a UE maymonitor various parameters of the signal from its serving cell as wellas various parameters of neighboring cells. Depending on the quality ofthese parameters, the UE may maintain communication with one or more ofthe neighboring cells. During this time, if the UE moves from one cellto another, or if signal quality from a neighboring cell exceeds thatfrom the serving cell for a given amount of time, the UE may undertake ahandoff or handover from the serving cell to the neighboring (target)cell. For example, UE 124 may move from the geographic areacorresponding to its serving cell 102 to the geographic areacorresponding to a neighbor cell 106. When the signal strength orquality from the neighbor cell 106 exceeds that of its serving cell 102for a given amount of time, the UE 124 may transmit a reporting messageto its serving base station 110 indicating this condition. In response,the UE 124 may receive a handover command, and the UE may undergo ahandover to the cell 106.

In a network configured for UL-based mobility, UL reference signals fromeach UE may be utilized by the network to select a serving cell for eachUE. In some examples, the base stations 110, 112, and 114/116 maybroadcast unified synchronization signals (e.g., unified PrimarySynchronization Signals (PSSs), unified Secondary SynchronizationSignals (SSSs) and unified Physical Broadcast Channels (PBCH)). The UEs122, 124, 126, 128, 130, and 132 may receive the unified synchronizationsignals, derive the carrier frequency and subframe/slot timing from thesynchronization signals, and in response to deriving timing, transmit anuplink pilot or reference signal. The uplink pilot signal transmitted bya UE (e.g., UE 124) may be concurrently received by two or more cells(e.g., base stations 110 and 114/116) within the radio access network100. Each of the cells may measure a strength of the pilot signal, andthe radio access network (e.g., one or more of the base stations 110 and114/116 and/or a central node within the core network) may determine aserving cell for the UE 124. As the UE 124 moves through the radioaccess network 100, the network may continue to monitor the uplink pilotsignal transmitted by the UE 124. When the signal strength or quality ofthe pilot signal measured by a neighboring cell exceeds that of thesignal strength or quality measured by the serving cell, the radioaccess network 100 may handover the UE 124 from the serving cell to theneighboring cell, with or without informing the UE 124.

Although the synchronization signal transmitted by the base stations110, 112, and 114/116 may be unified, the synchronization signal may notidentify a particular cell, but rather may identify a zone of multiplecells operating on the same frequency and/or with the same timing. Theuse of zones in 5G networks or other next generation communicationnetworks enables the uplink-based mobility framework and improves theefficiency of both the UE and the network, since the number of mobilitymessages that need to be exchanged between the UE and the network may bereduced.

In various implementations, the air interface in the radio accessnetwork 100 may utilize licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, orshared spectrum. Licensed spectrum provides for exclusive use of aportion of the spectrum, generally by virtue of a mobile networkoperator purchasing a license from a government regulatory body.Unlicensed spectrum provides for shared use of a portion of the spectrumwithout need for a government-granted license. While compliance withsome technical rules is generally still required to access unlicensedspectrum, generally, any operator or device may gain access. Sharedspectrum may fall between licensed and unlicensed spectrum, whereintechnical rules or limitations may be required to access the spectrum,but the spectrum may still be shared by multiple operators and/ormultiple RATs. For example, the holder of a license for a portion oflicensed spectrum may provide licensed shared access (LSA) to share thatspectrum with other parties, e.g., with suitable licensee-determinedconditions to gain access.

In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled, whereina scheduling entity (e.g., a base station) allocates resources (e.g.,time-frequency resources) for communication among some or all devicesand equipment within its service area or cell. Within the presentdisclosure, as discussed further below, the scheduling entity may beresponsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasingresources for one or more scheduled entities. That is, for scheduledcommunication, UEs or scheduled entities utilize resources allocated bythe scheduling entity.

Base stations are not the only entities that may function as ascheduling entity. That is, in some examples, a UE may function as ascheduling entity, scheduling resources for one or more scheduledentities (e.g., one or more other UEs). In other examples, sidelinksignals may be used between UEs without necessarily relying onscheduling or control information from a base station. For example, UE138 is illustrated communicating with UEs 140 and 142. In some examples,the UE 138 is functioning as a scheduling entity or a primary sidelinkdevice, and UEs 140 and 142 may function as a scheduled entity or anon-primary (e.g., secondary) sidelink device. In still another example,a UE may function as a scheduling entity in a device-to-device (D2D),peer-to-peer (P2P), or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network, and/or in amesh network. In a mesh network example, UEs 140 and 142 may optionallycommunicate directly with one another in addition to communicating withthe scheduling entity 138.

Thus, in a wireless communication network with scheduled access totime-frequency resources and having a cellular configuration, a P2Pconfiguration, or a mesh configuration, a scheduling entity and one ormore scheduled entities may communicate utilizing the scheduledresources. Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram illustrates ascheduling entity 202 and a plurality of scheduled entities 204 (e.g.,204 a and 204 b). Here, the scheduling entity 202 may correspond to abase station 110, 112, 114, and/or 118. In additional examples, thescheduling entity 202 may correspond to a UE 138, the quadcopter 120, orany other suitable node in the radio access network 100 Similarly, invarious examples, the scheduled entity 204 may correspond to the UE 122,124, 126, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136, 138, 140, and 142, or any othersuitable node in the radio access network 100.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the scheduling entity 202 may broadcasttraffic 206 to one or more scheduled entities 204 (the traffic may bereferred to as downlink traffic). Broadly, the scheduling entity 202 isa node or device responsible for scheduling traffic in a wirelesscommunication network, including the downlink transmissions and, in someexamples, uplink traffic 210 from one or more scheduled entities to thescheduling entity 202. Broadly, the scheduled entity 204 is a node ordevice that receives control information, including but not limited toscheduling information (e.g., a grant), synchronization or timinginformation, or other control information from another entity in thewireless communication network such as the scheduling entity 202.

In some examples, scheduled entities such as a first scheduled entity204 a and a second scheduled entity 204 b may utilize sidelink signalsfor direct D2D communication. Sidelink signals may include sidelinktraffic 214 and sidelink control 216. Sidelink control information 216may, in some examples, include a request signal, such as arequest-to-send (RTS), a source transmit signal (STS), and/or adirection selection signal (DSS). The request signal may provide for ascheduled entity 204 to request a duration of time to keep a sidelinkchannel available for a sidelink signal. Sidelink control information216 may further include a response signal, such as a clear-to-send (CTS)and/or a destination receive signal (DRS). The response signal mayprovide for the scheduled entity 204 to indicate the availability of thesidelink channel, e.g., for a requested duration of time. An exchange ofrequest and response signals (e.g., handshake) may enable differentscheduled entities performing sidelink communications to negotiate theavailability of the sidelink channel prior to communication of thesidelink traffic information 214.

The air interface in the radio access network 100 may utilize one ormore duplexing algorithms. Duplex refers to a point-to-pointcommunication link where both endpoints can communicate with one anotherin both directions. Full duplex means both endpoints can simultaneouslycommunicate with one another. Half duplex means only one endpoint cansend information to the other at a time. In a wireless link, a fullduplex channel generally relies on physical isolation of a transmitterand receiver, and suitable interference cancellation technologies. Fullduplex emulation is frequently implemented for wireless links byutilizing frequency division duplex (FDD) or time division duplex (TDD).In FDD, transmissions in different directions operate at differentcarrier frequencies. In TDD, transmissions in different directions on agiven channel are separated from one another using time divisionmultiplexing. That is, at some times the channel is dedicated fortransmissions in one direction, while at other times the channel isdedicated for transmissions in the other direction, where the directionmay change very rapidly, e.g., several times per slot.

Various aspects of the present disclosure will be described withreference to an OFDM waveform, schematically illustrated in FIG. 3. Itshould be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that thevarious aspects of the present disclosure may be applied to an SC-FDMAwaveform in substantially the same way as described herein below. Thatis, while some examples of the present disclosure may focus on an OFDMlink for clarity, it should be understood that the same principles maybe applied as well to SC-FDMA waveforms.

Referring now to FIG. 3, an expanded view of an exemplary DL subframe302 is illustrated, showing an OFDM resource grid. However, as thoseskilled in the art will readily appreciate, the PHY transmissionstructure for any particular application may vary from the exampledescribed here, depending on any number of factors. Here, time is in thehorizontal direction with units of OFDM symbols; and frequency is in thevertical direction with units of subcarriers.

The resource grid 304 may be used to schematically representtime-frequency resources for a given antenna port. That is, in amultiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) implementation with multipleantenna ports available, a corresponding multiple number of resourcegrids 304 may be available for communication. The resource grid 304 isdivided into multiple resource elements (REs) 306. An RE, which is 1subcarrier×1 symbol, is the smallest discrete part of the time-frequencygrid, and contains a single complex value representing data from aphysical channel or signal. Depending on the modulation utilized in aparticular implementation, each RE may represent one or more bits ofinformation. In some examples, a block of REs may be referred to as aphysical resource block (PRB) or more simply a resource block (RB) 308,which contains any suitable number of consecutive subcarriers in thefrequency domain. In one example, an RB may include 12 subcarriers, anumber independent of the numerology used. In some examples, dependingon the numerology, an RB may include any suitable number of consecutiveOFDM symbols in the time domain. Within the present disclosure, it isassumed that a single RB such as the RB 308 entirely corresponds to asingle direction of communication (either transmission or reception fora given device).

A UE generally utilizes only a subset of the resource grid 304. An RBmay be the smallest unit of resources that can be allocated to a UE.Thus, the more RBs scheduled for a UE, and the higher the modulationscheme chosen for the air interface, the higher the data rate for theUE.

In this illustration, the RB 308 is shown as occupying less than theentire bandwidth of the subframe 302, with some subcarriers illustratedabove and below the RB 308. In a given implementation, the subframe 302may have a bandwidth corresponding to any number of one or more RBs 308.Further, in this illustration, the RB 308 is shown as occupying lessthan the entire duration of the subframe 302, although this is merelyone possible example.

Each 1 ms subframe 302 may consist of one or multiple adjacent slots. Inthe example shown in FIG. 4, one subframe 302 includes four slots 310,as an illustrative example. In some examples, a slot may be definedaccording to a specified number of OFDM symbols with a given cyclicprefix (CP) length. For example, a slot may include 7 or 14 OFDM symbolswith a normal CP. Additional examples may include mini-slots having ashorter duration (e.g., one or two OFDM symbols). These mini-slots mayin some cases be transmitted occupying resources scheduled for ongoingslot transmissions for the same or for different UEs.

An expanded view of one of the slots 310 illustrates the slot 310including a control region 312 and a data region 314. In general, thecontrol region 312 may carry control channels (e.g., PDCCH), and thedata region 314 may carry data channels (e.g., PDSCH or PUSCH). Ofcourse, a slot may contain all DL, all UL, or at least one DL portionand at least one UL portion. The structure illustrated in FIG. 3 ismerely exemplary in nature, and different slot structures may beutilized, and may include one or more of each of the control region(s)and data region(s).

Although not illustrated in FIG. 3, the various REs 306 within a RB 308may be scheduled to carry one or more physical channels, includingcontrol channels, shared channels, data channels, etc. Other REs 306within the RB 308 may also carry pilots or reference signals, includingbut not limited to a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) a controlreference signal (CRS), or a sounding reference signal (SRS). Thesepilots or reference signals may provide for a receiving device toperform channel estimation of the corresponding channel, which mayenable coherent demodulation/detection of the control and/or datachannels within the RB 308.

In a DL transmission, the transmitting device (e.g., the schedulingentity 202) may allocate one or more REs 306 (e.g., within a controlregion 312) to carry DL control information 208 including one or more DLcontrol channels, such as a PBCH; a PSS; a SSS; a physical controlformat indicator channel (PCFICH), which carrier the Control FormatIndicator (CFI); a physical hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)indicator channel (PHICH); and/or a physical downlink control channel(PDCCH), etc., to one or more scheduled entities 204. The PCFICHprovides information to assist a receiving device in receiving anddecoding the PDCCH. The number N of control OFDM symbols in the subframeor slot is signaled by the CFI in the PCFICH. The value of the CFI maydepend on the channel bandwidth. For example, for a channel bandwidth of1.4 MHz, the CFI value may be 2, 3, or 4 (indicating 2, 3, or 4 controlOFDM symbols, respectively), whereas for a channel bandwidth of 3 MHz,the CFI value may be 1, 2, or 3 (indicating 1, 2, or 3 control OFDMsymbols, respectively). The 1.4 MHz channel may require more controlOFDM symbols than the 3 MHz channel since there are fewer subcarriers inthe frequency domain. The CFI value is determined by the base station(scheduling entity), and may depend, for example, on the number ofactive connections in the cell.

The PCFICH may occupy, for example, 16 resource elements (REs) in thefirst OFDM symbol of the subframe or slot. The 16 REs are divided intofour resource element groups (REGs), which are distributed within thefirst OFDM symbol. The exact position of each REG of the PCFICH may bedetermined from the physical cell ID, the number of frequency carriersper resource block and the number of resource blocks in the channelbandwidth.

The PDCCH carries downlink control information (DCI) including but notlimited to power control commands, scheduling information, a grant,and/or an assignment of REs for DL and UL transmissions. The PDCCH maybe transmitted over an aggregation of contiguous control channelelements (CCEs) in the control section of the subframe or slot. In someexamples, one CCE includes nine continuous resource element groups(REGs), where each REG includes four resource elements (REs). Thus, oneCCE may include thirty-six REs. In some examples, the PDCCH may beconstructed from a variable number of CCEs, depending on the PDCCHformat (or aggregation level). Each PDCCH format (or aggregation level)supports a different DCI length. In some examples, PDCCH aggregationlevels of 1, 2, 4, and 8 may be supported, corresponding to 1, 2, 4, or8 contiguous CCEs, respectively.

The DCI within the PDCCH provides downlink resource assignments and/oruplink resource grants for one or more scheduled entities. MultiplePDCCHs may be transmitted each subframe or slot and each PDCCH may carryuser-specific DCI or common DCI (e.g., control information broadcast toa group of scheduled entities). Each DCI may further include a cyclicredundancy check (CRC) bit that is scrambled with a radio networktemporary identifier (RNTI), which may be a specific user RNTI or agroup RNTI, to allow the UE to determine the type of control informationsent in the PDCCH.

Since the UE is unaware of the particular aggregation level of the PDCCHor whether multiple PDCCHs may exist for the UE in the subframe or slot,the UE may perform blind decoding of various decoding candidates withinthe first N control OFDM symbols identified by the CFI of the PCFICH.Each decoding candidate includes a collection of one or more consecutiveCCEs based on an assumed DCI length (e.g., PDCCH aggregation level). Tolimit the number of blind decodes, a UE-specific search space and acommon search space may be defined. The search spaces limit the numberof blind decodes that the UE performs for each PDCCH format combination.The common search space consists of CCEs used for sending controlinformation that is common to a group of UEs. Thus, the common searchspace is monitored by all UEs in a cell and may be static betweensubframes or slots. The UE-specific search space consists of CCEs usedfor sending control information for particular UEs. The starting point(offset or index) of a UE-specific search space may be different foreach UE and each UE may have multiple UE-specific search spaces (e.g.,one for each aggregation level). The UE may perform blind decoding overall aggregation levels and corresponding UE-specific search spaces todetermine whether at least one valid DCI exists for the UE within theUE-specific search space(s).

Thus, the PDCCH decode complexity may be driven by the number ofdifferent DCI lengths and the sizes of the common and UE-specific searchspaces. In next generation access networks, more or different DCIlengths may be required to support different types of user data trafficand different bandwidths. For example, for uplink grants, additional DCIlengths may be needed to support both OFDM and SC-FDM transmissions. Asanother example, if user data traffic in a cell is downlink-heavy, thesearch space in uplink slots may need to be restricted to reduce UEdecode complexity. Since the PDCCH processing timeline affects the userdata traffic decoding timeline, in various aspects of the disclosure,the search space may be optimized to improve the user data trafficdecoding timeline.

The PHICH carries HARQ feedback transmissions such as an acknowledgment(ACK) or negative acknowledgment (NACK). HARQ is a technique by whichthe integrity of packet transmissions may be checked at the receivingside for accuracy, e.g., utilizing any suitable integrity checkingmechanism, such as a checksum or a cyclic redundancy check (CRC). If theintegrity of the transmission confirmed, an ACK may be transmitted,whereas if not confirmed, a NACK may be transmitted. In response to aNACK, the transmitting device may send a HARQ retransmission, which mayimplement chase combining, incremental redundancy, etc.

In an UL transmission, the transmitting device (e.g., the scheduledentity 204) may utilize one or more REs 306 to carry UL controlinformation 212 including one or more UL control channels, such as aphysical uplink control channel (PUCCH), to the scheduling entity 202.UL control information may include a variety of packet types andcategories, including pilots, reference signals, and informationconfigured to enable or assist in decoding uplink data transmissions. Insome examples, the control information 212 may include a schedulingrequest (SR), i.e., request for the scheduling entity 202 to scheduleuplink transmissions. Here, in response to the SR transmitted on thecontrol channel 212, the scheduling entity 202 may transmit downlinkcontrol information 208 that may schedule resources for uplink packettransmissions. UL control information may also include HARQ feedback,channel state feedback (CSF), or any other suitable UL controlinformation.

In addition to control information, one or more REs 306 (e.g., withinthe data region 314) may be allocated for user data traffic. Suchtraffic may be carried on one or more traffic channels, such as, for aDL transmission, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); or for anUL transmission, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). In someexamples, one or more REs 306 within the data region 314 may beconfigured to carry system information blocks (SIBs), carryinginformation that may enable access to a given cell.

The two main types of reference signals transmitted in the uplinkinclude the uplink demodulation reference signal (DMRS) and the soundingreference signal (SRS). The uplink DMRS enables coherent demodulation ofuplink transmissions in the PUSCH and/or PUCCH. The SRS may be used bythe scheduling entity to estimate the uplink channel, which mayfacilitate uplink scheduling, power control, and diversity transmissionin the downlink In various aspects of the disclosure, the location ofthe SRS within the uplink subframe or slot may be optimized to improvethe decoding timeline of uplink user data traffic.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate examples of slots 400 and 500 that may be usedin some networks. In some examples, each of the slots 400 and 500 shownin FIGS. 4 and 5 is a time division duplexed slot that includestime-frequency resources divided into transmit and receive portions inthe time domain For example, each slot may contain a plurality ofconsecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and a plurality of OFDMsymbols in the time domain. The number of subcarriers may be determined,for example, by the system bandwidth supported by the network or adevice bandwidth supported by a particular scheduled entity. The numberof OFDM symbols within each slot may be determined, for example, basedon the system requirements in the network and/or the particular slotstructure utilized for a current slot.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a downlink (DL)-centricslot 400 according to some aspects of the disclosure. In the exampleshown in FIG. 4, time is illustrated along a horizontal axis, whilefrequency is illustrated along a vertical axis. The time-frequencyresources of the DL-centric slot 400 may be divided into a DL burst 402,a DL traffic region 404 and an UL burst 408.

The DL burst 402 may exist in the initial or beginning portion of theDL-centric slot. The DL burst 402 may include any suitable DLinformation in one or more channels. In some examples, the DL burst 402may include various scheduling information and/or control informationcorresponding to various portions of the DL-centric slot. In someconfigurations, the DL burst 402 may be a physical DL control channel(PDCCH). The DL-centric slot may also include a DL traffic region 404.The DL traffic region 404 may sometimes be referred to as the payload ofthe DL-centric slot. The DL traffic region 404 may include thecommunication resources utilized to communicate DL user data trafficfrom the scheduling entity 202 (e.g., gNB) to the scheduled entity 204(e.g., UE). In some configurations, the DL traffic region 404 mayinclude a physical DL shared channel (PDSCH).

The UL burst 408 may include, for example, uplink control information(UCI) within a PUCCH. In some examples, the UCI may include feedbackinformation corresponding to various other portions of the DL-centricslot. For example, the UCI may include feedback informationcorresponding to the control region 402 and/or DL traffic region 404.Non-limiting examples of feedback information may include an ACK signal,a NACK signal, a HARQ indicator, and/or various other suitable types offeedback information. The UCI may also include scheduling requests foruplink user data traffic, channel quality information (CQI),multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO parameters, and various othersuitable types of information. The UL burst 406 may further includeother types of information in one or more other channels, such asinformation pertaining to random access channel (RACH) procedures on aphysical random access channel (PRACH).

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the end of the DL traffic region 404 may beseparated in time from the beginning of the UL burst 408. This timeseparation may sometimes be referred to as a gap, a guard period, aguard interval, and/or various other suitable terms, hereinafterreferred to as a guard period (GP) 406. This separation provides timefor the switch-over from DL communication (e.g., reception operation bythe scheduled entity 204 (e.g., UE)) to UL communication (e.g.,transmission by the scheduled entity 204 (e.g., UE)). One of ordinaryskill in the art will understand that the foregoing is merely oneexample of a DL-centric slot and alternative structures having similarfeatures may exist without necessarily deviating from the aspectsdescribed herein.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an uplink (UL)-centric slot500 according to some aspects of the disclosure. In the example shown inFIG. 5, time is illustrated along a horizontal axis, while frequency isillustrated along a vertical axis. The time-frequency resources of theUL-centric slot 500 may be divided into a DL burst 502, an UL trafficregion 506 and an UL burst 508.

The DL burst 502 may exist in the initial or beginning portion of theUL-centric slot. The DL burst 502 in FIG. 5 may be similar to the DLburst 402 described above with reference to FIG. 4. The UL-centric slotmay also include an UL traffic region 506. The UL traffic region 506 maysometimes be referred to as the payload of the UL-centric slot. The ULtraffic region 506 may include the communication resources utilized tocommunicate UL user data traffic from the scheduled entity 204 (e.g.,UE) to the scheduling entity 202 (e.g., gNB). In some configurations,the UL traffic region 506 may be a physical UL shared channel (PUSCH).In addition, in some examples, the PUSCH may further carry various UCI,such as feedback information, scheduling requests, or an aperiodic CQIreport. The UL burst 508 in FIG. 5 may be similar to the UL burst 408described above with reference to FIG. 4.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the end of the DL burst 502 may be separatedin time from the beginning of the UL traffic region 506. This timeseparation may sometimes be referred to as a gap, guard period, guardinterval, and/or various other suitable terms, hereinafter referred toas a guard period (GP) 504. This separation provides time for theswitch-over from DL communication (e.g., reception operation by thescheduled entity 204 (e.g., UE)) to UL communication (e.g., transmissionoperation by the scheduled entity 204 (e.g., UE)). One of ordinary skillin the art will understand that the foregoing is merely one example ofan UL-centric slot, and alternative structures having similar featuresmay exist without necessarily deviating from the aspects describedherein. In some examples, the UL-centric slot 500 may include the DLburst 502 and only one of the UL traffic region 506 or UL burst 508(e.g., the UL region of the slot may include only UL controlinformation).

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardwareimplementation for a scheduling entity 600 employing a processing system614. For example, the scheduling entity 600 may be a base station asillustrated in FIG. 1 and/or 2. In another example, the schedulingentity 600 may be a user equipment as illustrated in FIG. 1 and/or 2.

The scheduling entity 600 may be implemented with a processing system614 that includes one or more processors 604. Examples of processors 604include microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors(DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logicdevices (PLDs), state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits,and other suitable hardware configured to perform the variousfunctionality described throughout this disclosure. In various examples,the scheduling entity 600 may be configured to perform any one or moreof the functions described herein. That is, the processor 604, asutilized in a scheduling entity 600, may be used to implement any one ormore of the processes described below. The processor 604 may in someinstances be implemented via a baseband or modem chip and in otherimplementations, the processor 604 may itself comprise a number ofdevices distinct and different from a baseband or modem chip (e.g., insuch scenarios is may work in concert to achieve embodiments discussedherein). And as mentioned above various hardware arrangements andcomponents outside of a baseband modem processor can be used inimplementations, including RF-chains, power amplifiers, modulators,buffers, interleavers, adders/summers, etc.

In this example, the processing system 614 may be implemented with a busarchitecture, represented generally by the bus 602. The bus 602 mayinclude any number of interconnecting buses and bridges depending on thespecific application of the processing system 614 and the overall designconstraints. The bus 602 communicatively couples together variouscircuits including one or more processors (represented generally by theprocessor 604), a memory 605, and computer-readable media (representedgenerally by the computer-readable medium 606). The bus 602 may alsolink various other circuits such as timing sources, peripherals, voltageregulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in theart, and therefore, will not be described any further. A bus interface608 provides an interface between the bus 602 and a transceiver 610. Thetransceiver 610 provides a means for communicating with various otherapparatus over a transmission medium. Depending upon the nature of theapparatus, an optional user interface 612 (e.g., keypad, display,speaker, microphone, joystick) may also be provided.

The processor 604 is responsible for managing the bus 602 and generalprocessing, including the execution of software stored on thecomputer-readable medium 606. The software, when executed by theprocessor 604, causes the processing system 614 to perform the variousfunctions described below for any particular apparatus. Thecomputer-readable medium 606 and the memory 605 may also be used forstoring data that is manipulated by the processor 604 when executingsoftware.

One or more processors 604 in the processing system may executesoftware. Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions,instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs,subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications,software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threadsof execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to assoftware, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware descriptionlanguage, or otherwise. The software may reside on a computer-readablemedium 606.

The computer-readable medium 606 may be a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumincludes, by way of example, a magnetic storage device (e.g., hard disk,floppy disk, magnetic strip), an optical disk (e.g., a compact disc (CD)or a digital versatile disc (DVD)), a smart card, a flash memory device(e.g., a card, a stick, or a key drive), a random access memory (RAM), aread only memory (ROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable PROM(EPROM), an electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), a register, a removabledisk, and any other suitable medium for storing software and/orinstructions that may be accessed and read by a computer. Thecomputer-readable medium may also include, by way of example, a carrierwave, a transmission line, and any other suitable medium fortransmitting software and/or instructions that may be accessed and readby a computer. The computer-readable medium 606 may reside in theprocessing system 614, external to the processing system 614, ordistributed across multiple entities including the processing system614. The computer-readable medium 606 may be embodied in a computerprogram product. By way of example, a computer program product mayinclude a computer-readable medium in packaging materials. Those skilledin the art will recognize how best to implement the describedfunctionality presented throughout this disclosure depending on theparticular application and the overall design constraints imposed on theoverall system.

In some aspects of the disclosure, the processor 604 may includecircuitry configured for various functions. For example, the processor604 may include resource assignment and scheduling circuitry 641,configured to generate, schedule, and modify a resource assignment orgrant of time-frequency resources (e.g., a set of one or more resourceelements). For example, the resource assignment and scheduling circuitry641 may schedule time-frequency resources within a plurality of timedivision duplex (TDD) and/or frequency division duplex (FDD) subframesor slots to carry user data traffic and/or control information to and/orfrom multiple UEs (scheduled entities).

The resource assignment and scheduling circuitry 641 may further beconfigured to schedule a sounding reference signal (SRS) and uplinkdemodulation reference signal (DMRS) within an uplink-centric slot. Insome examples, the SRS may be scheduled at the end of an uplink regionof the uplink-centric slot. For example, the SRS may be scheduled aftertransmission of uplink information (e.g., at least one of uplink userdata traffic or uplink control information). Scheduling the SRS at theend of the uplink-centric slot may provide more time for the schedulingentity to process the uplink user data traffic and generateacknowledgement information for insertion in a subsequent slot (e.g.,the next slot or any other subsequent slot).

In some examples, the SRS may be scheduled at the start of the uplinkregion of the uplink-centric slot. For example, the SRS may be scheduledprior to transmission of the uplink information (e.g., at least one ofthe uplink user data traffic or uplink control information). Schedulingthe SRS at the start of the uplink region may provide more time for thescheduled entity to decode and process the uplink grant within the PDCCHbefore transmitting the uplink user data on the uplink grant. In someexamples, the SRS may be placed prior to the DMRS to provide betteruplink channel estimation for the uplink user data traffic and uplinkcontrol information (e.g., PUSCH/PUCCH). In some examples, the SRS maybe placed after the DMRS to enable DMRS alignment between theuplink-centric slot and a downlink-centric slot transmitted in anadjacent cell. The resource assignment and scheduling circuitry 641 mayfurther operate in coordination with resource assignment and schedulingsoftware 651.

The processor 604 may further include downlink (DL) traffic and controlchannel generation and transmission circuitry 642, configured togenerate and transmit downlink user data traffic and controlsignals/channels. For example, the DL traffic and control channelgeneration and transmission circuitry 642 may be configured to generatemaster information blocks (MIBs), master or other system informationblocks (SIBs), and/or radio resource control (RRC) connection orconfiguration messages, and various channels, such as the PBCH (whichmay carry the MIB and/or SIB), PSS, SSS, and/or physical hybridautomatic repeat request (HARQ) indicator channel (PHICH).

The DL traffic and control channel generation and transmission circuitry642 may further be configured to generate sounding reference signal(SRS) information 635 indicating the location (placement) of the SRSwithin an uplink-centric slot and to broadcast the SRS information 635to scheduled entities within the cell. In some examples, the SRSinformation 635 may be transmitted dynamically within the downlinkcontrol region (e.g., within the DCI of the PDCCH) of one or more slots.In other examples, the SRS information 635 may be transmittedsemi-statically within a MIB, SIB, and/or RRC configuration message. TheSRS information 635 may be maintained, for example, within memory 605.

The DL traffic and control channel generation and transmission circuitry642 may further be configured to generate a physical downlink sharedchannel (PDSCH) including downlink user data traffic. In addition, theDL traffic and control channel generation and transmission circuitry 642may operate in coordination with the resource assignment and schedulingcircuitry 641 to schedule the DL user data traffic and/or controlinformation and to place the DL user data traffic and/or controlinformation onto a time division duplex (TDD) or frequency divisionduplex (FDD) carrier within one or more subframes or slots in accordancewith the resources assigned to the DL user data traffic and/or controlinformation. The DL traffic and control channel generation andtransmission circuitry 642 may further be configured to multiplex DLtransmissions utilizing time division multiplexing (TDM), code divisionmultiplexing (CDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonalfrequency division multiplexing (OFDM), sparse code multiplexing (SCM),or other suitable multiplexing schemes.

The DL traffic and control channel generation and transmission circuitry642 may further be configured to generate a physical control formatindicator channel (PCFICH) including a control format indicator (CFI).The CFI may carry the number N of control OFDM symbols in a currentsubframe or slot. The DL traffic and control channel generation andtransmission circuitry 642 may determine the value of the CFI based on,for example, the channel bandwidth and/or the number of activeconnections (e.g., active UEs) in the cell. For example, for a channelbandwidth of 1.4 MHz, the CFI value may be 2, 3, or 4 (indicating 2, 3,or 4 control OFDM symbols, respectively), whereas for a channelbandwidth of 3 MHz, the CFI value may be 1, 2, or 3 (indicating 1, 2, or3 control OFDM symbols, respectively). The DL traffic and controlchannel generation and transmission circuitry 642 may further operate incoordination with the resource assignment and scheduling circuitry 641to map the PCFICH to a set of four resource element groups (REGs)distributed within the first OFDM symbol of the current subframe orslot.

The DL traffic and control channel generation and transmission circuitry642 may further be configured to generate a physical downlink controlchannel (PDCCH) including downlink control information (DCI). In someexamples, the DCI may include control information indicating anassignment of downlink resources for downlink data or a grant of uplinkor sidelink resources for one or more scheduled entities. The DL trafficand control channel generation and transmission circuitry 642 mayfurther generate a CRC code within the DCI that is scrambled with the UEID (e.g., a specific UE ID or a group UE ID).

The DL traffic and control channel generation and transmission circuitry642 may further operate in coordination with the resource assignment andscheduling circuitry 641 to map the PDCCH to an aggregation ofcontiguous control channel elements (CCEs) in the first N OFDM symbolsof the slot, where N is determined by the CFI. In some examples, thenumber of CCEs used to transmit the PDCCH may be variable based on theDCI length. In addition, the CCEs allocated to PDCCH may correspond to acommon or UE-specific search space. In various aspects of thedisclosure, the size of the search space may be optimized based on oneor more fixed or time-varying parameters. For example, the size of asearch space allocated to a PDCCH may be selected based on slotinformation related to the slot, as described further below. The DLtraffic and control channel generation and transmission circuitry 642may further operate in coordination with DL data and control channelgeneration and transmission software 652.

The processor 604 may further include search space management circuitry643, configured to define one or more search spaces, each correspondingto different slot information. For example, the slot information mayindicate one or more attributes of the slot, including, but not limitedto, the type of slot (e.g., uplink-centric or downlink-centric), thetype of user data traffic transmitted in the slot, the number ofscheduled entities served in the slot (e.g., the number of scheduledentities transmitting/receiving user data traffic in the slot), thenumber of mini-slots included within the slot, user-specific slotattributes, and/or a slot index identifying the slot.

In some examples, one or more uplink search spaces (e.g., within a PDCCHtransmitted in a DL burst) may be defined for uplink-centric slots andone or more downlink search spaces (e.g., within a PDCCH transmitted ina DL burst) may be defined for downlink-centric slots. The size of theuplink and downlink search spaces may be the same or different. In someexamples, the uplink and downlink search spaces are associated withcommon search spaces. In other examples, the uplink and downlink searchspace sizes are associated with UE-specific search spaces. In addition,multiple uplink search spaces and downlink search spaces may be defined,each for a particular DCI size (aggregation level). The aggregationlevels may be the same on the uplink and downlink or different on theuplink and downlink For example, there may be more uplink search spaces(e.g., more aggregation levels) defined for uplink-centric slots thanfor downlink-centric slots to support both OFDM and SC-FDM transmissionson the uplink As another example, one or more reduced size uplink searchspaces may be defined to restrict the search space in uplink-centricslots, thereby reducing PDCCH decoding complexity. This may bebeneficial, for example, in cells with large amounts of downlink userdata traffic.

In some examples, search spaces may be defined such that one or moresearch spaces are subsets of another search space. For example, a largesearch space may defined corresponding to a first attribute of the slotand a smaller search space within the large search space may be definedcorresponding to a second attribute of the slot. In this example, theresource elements (CCEs) defined for the large search space may includethe resource elements (CCEs) defined for the small search space. In someexamples, the large search space may correspond to a downlink-centricslot, while the smaller search space may correspond to an uplink-centricslot. By defining the uplink-centric search space within thedownlink-centric search space, the scheduled entity may still be able toblind decode the necessary decoding candidates if the type of slot (e.g.uplink-centric or downlink-centric) is unknown.

In some examples, different search spaces may be defined for differentnumbers of scheduled entities served in a slot (e.g., different numbersof scheduled entities transmitting/receiving user data traffic in aslot). For example, a threshold number of scheduled entities may bedefined for a slot. If the number of scheduled entitiestransmitting/receiving user data traffic in the slot is greater than (orgreater than or equal to) the threshold number of scheduled entities, alarger search space may be utilized to accommodate the number of DCIneeded to be transmitted in the slot. However, if the number ofscheduled entities transmitting or receiving user data traffic in theslot is less than (or less than or equal to) the threshold number ofscheduled entities, a smaller search space may be utilized.

In some examples, search spaces may be defined for particular slots. Forexample, the search space size for one or more slots may be predefinedsuch that a particular search space may be associated with a particularslot index identifying the slot. As an example, one or more slots may bereserved for large bandwidth user data traffic, and a particular searchspace may be defined for these slots. In general, the number ofscheduled entities served by a slot carrying large bandwidth user datatraffic may be small, and therefore, a smaller search space may bedefined for this type of slot.

In some examples, search spaces may be defined based on whether the slotincludes mini-slots. If the slot contains two or more mini-slots, eachmay require separate scheduling, thus increasing the amount of PDCCHresources needed in the slot. Therefore, the search space size for aslot containing mini-slots may be greater than a slot that does notcontain any mini-slots. In addition, the search space size may varybased on the number of mini-slots included within a slot.

In some examples, the different search space sizes may be defined forall scheduled entities or only certain scheduled entities. For example,the common and/or UE-specific search space in a slot may be separatelyconfigured for each scheduled entity or may be the same for allscheduled entities. In addition, the different search space sizes may bedefined based on two or more of the above-listed slot attributes or onany other suitable slot attribute.

In some examples, the search space of one or more slots may be empty.For example, with semi-persistent scheduling (SPS), the scheduled entitymay be pre-configured with a periodicity of downlink assignments oruplink grants. Once configured, the scheduled entity may receivedownlink transmissions at regular intervals or transmit uplinktransmissions at regular intervals according to the periodicity. Thus,during SPS, the resource assignments may remain fixed, and as such, DCImay not need to be included within slots carrying SPS transmissions.

In some examples, the search space management circuitry 643 may maintainthe respective search spaces and corresponding slot information (e.g.,slot attributes) for each of the respective search spaces as searchspace information 630 within memory 605. The search space managementcircuitry 643 may further operate in coordination with the DL trafficand control channel generation and transmission circuitry 642 totransmit the search space information semi-statically to scheduledentities within the cell. For example, the search space managementcircuitry 643 may transmit the search space information within a MIB,SIB, and/or RRC configuration message.

In some examples, the slot information for one or more slot attributesmay be fixed in the cell, thus enabling the scheduled entity to identifythe search space for a particular slot based on the received searchspace information. For example, one or more slots may be fixed asdownlink-centric or uplink-centric or as carrying large bandwidth userdata traffic, thus allowing the scheduled entity to identify the searchspace with knowledge of the slot index.

In some examples, the search space management circuitry 643 may beconfigured to operate in coordination with the DL traffic and controlchannel generation and transmission circuitry 642 to transmit the slotinformation (e.g., slot attributes corresponding to the selected searchspace) for a slot to the scheduled entities. The slot information for acurrent slot may be transmitted within a previous slot, or within, forexample, an overhead channel transmitted within the current slot, suchas the PCFICH. For example, this overhead channel may indicate whetherthe current slot is a downlink-centric slot or an uplink-centric slot.The search space management circuitry 643 may further operate incoordination with search space management software 653.

The processor 604 may further include uplink (UL) traffic and controlchannel reception and processing circuitry 644, configured to receiveand process uplink control channels and uplink traffic channels from oneor more scheduled entities. For example, the UL traffic and controlchannel reception and processing circuitry 644 may be configured toreceive a scheduling request from a scheduled entity. The UL traffic andcontrol channel reception and processing circuitry 644 may further beconfigured to provide the scheduling request to the resource assignmentand scheduling circuitry 641 for processing. The UL traffic and controlchannel reception and processing circuitry 644 may further be configuredto receive uplink user data traffic from one or more scheduled entities.

In various aspects of the disclosure, the UL traffic and control channelreception and processing circuitry 644 may further be configured toreceive a sounding reference signal (SRS) within an uplink region of aslot in accordance with the SRS information 635 broadcast in the cell.In general, the UL traffic and control channel reception and processingcircuitry 644 may operate in coordination with the resource assignmentand scheduling circuitry 641 to schedule UL traffic transmissions, DLtraffic transmissions and/or DL traffic retransmissions in accordancewith the received UL control information. The UL traffic and controlchannel reception and processing circuitry 644 may further operate incoordination with UL traffic and control channel reception andprocessing software 654.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a hardwareimplementation for an exemplary scheduled entity 700 employing aprocessing system 714. In accordance with various aspects of thedisclosure, an element, or any portion of an element, or any combinationof elements may be implemented with a processing system 714 thatincludes one or more processors 704. For example, the scheduled entity700 may be a user equipment (UE) as illustrated in any one or more ofFIGS. 1 and 2.

The processing system 714 may be substantially the same as theprocessing system 614 illustrated in FIG. 6, including a bus interface708, a bus 702, memory 705, a processor 704, and a computer-readablemedium 706. Furthermore, the scheduled entity 700 may include a userinterface 712 and a transceiver 710 substantially similar to thosedescribed above in FIG. 6. That is, the processor 704, as utilized in ascheduled entity 700, may be used to implement any one or more of theprocesses described below.

In some aspects of the disclosure, the processor 704 may include uplink(UL) traffic and control channel generation and transmission circuitry741, configured to generate and transmit uplinkcontrol/feedback/acknowledgement information on an UL control channel.For example, the UL traffic and control channel generation andtransmission circuitry 741 may be configured to generate and transmit anuplink control channel (e.g., a Physical Uplink Control Channel(PUCCH)). The UL traffic and control channel generation and transmissioncircuitry 741 may further be configured to generate and transmit uplinkuser data traffic on an UL traffic channel (e.g., a PUSCH) in accordancewith an uplink grant.

The UL traffic and control channel generation and transmission circuitry741 may further be configured to generate and transmit a soundingreference signal and demodulation reference signal within anuplink-centric slot. In some examples, the SRS may be transmitted at thestart or end of the uplink region of the uplink-centric slot. Forexample, the SRS may be transmitted prior to or after transmission ofthe uplink information (e.g., at least one of the uplink user datatraffic and uplink control information). In some examples, the SRS maybe placed prior to the DMRS to provide better uplink channel estimationfor the uplink user data traffic and uplink control information (e.g.,PUSCH/PUCCH). In some examples, the SRS may be placed after the DMRS toenable DMRS alignment between the uplink-centric slot and adownlink-centric slot transmitted in an adjacent cell. The UL trafficand control channel generation and transmission circuitry 741 mayoperate in coordination with UL traffic and control channel generationand transmission software 751.

The processor 704 may further include downlink (DL) traffic and controlchannel reception and processing circuitry 742, configured for receivingand processing downlink user data traffic on a traffic channel (e.g.,PDSCH), and to receive and process control information on one or moredownlink control channels. For example, the DL traffic and controlchannel reception and processing circuitry 742 may be configured toreceive one or more of a Physical Control Format Indicator Channel(PCFICH), Physical Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) IndicatorChannel (PHICH), or Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) within acurrent slot. In some examples, received downlink user data trafficand/or control information may be temporarily stored in a data buffer715 within memory 705.

The DL traffic and control channel reception and processing circuitry742 may further be configured to receive sounding reference signal (SRS)information 735 indicating the location (placement) of the SRS within anuplink-centric slot. In some examples, the SRS information 735 may bereceived dynamically within the downlink control region (e.g., withinthe DCI of the PDCCH) of one or more slots. In other examples, the SRSinformation 735 may be received semi-statically within a MIB, SIB,and/or RRC configuration message. The DL traffic and control channelreception and processing circuitry 742 may further be configured tostore the SRS information 735 within, for example, memory 705 for use bythe UL traffic and control channel generation and transmission circuitry741 when generating and transmitting the SRS and DMRS.

The DL traffic and control channel reception and processing circuitry742 may further be configured to identify one or more search spaceswithin the first N symbols (e.g., within a control region) of the slotbased on slot information related to the slot. The slot information mayindicate one or more attributes of the slot, including, but not limitedto, the type of slot (e.g., uplink-centric or downlink-centric), thetype of user data traffic transmitted in the slot, the number ofscheduled entities served in the slot (e.g., the number of scheduledentities transmitting/receiving user data traffic in the slot), thenumber of mini-slots included within the slot, user-specific slotattributes, and/or a slot index identifying the slot. The slotinformation may be known (e.g., the slot index may be known), may bereceived within the current slot (e.g., within an overhead channel, suchas the PCFICH), or may be received within a previous slot (e.g., withinthe PDCCH or other control signal of a previous slot).

The DL traffic and control channel reception and processing circuitry742 may further be configured to compare the slot information for theslot to search space information 730, which may be stored, for example,in memory 705. The search space information 730 may indicate respectivesearch spaces and corresponding slot information for each of therespective search spaces. In some examples, the DL traffic and controlchannel reception and processing circuitry 742 may receive the searchspace information 730 within one or more broadcast signals. For example,the search space information 730 may be received within one or moreMIBs, SIBs, and/or RRC configuration messages. The DL traffic andcontrol channel reception and processing circuitry 742 may compare theslot information of the current slot with the search space information730 to identify the particular search space(s) within the current slot.The identified search space(s) may be common search spaces and/orUE-specific search spaces. In addition, the starting point (or offset)within the control region of the slot for each search space may bespecific to the scheduled entity.

Each search space corresponds to a set of resource elements (e.g.,contiguous CCEs) that includes a plurality of decoding candidates. Foreach identified search space, the DL traffic and control channelreception and processing circuitry 742 may further be configured todemodulate the resource elements within the search space and performblind decoding of the decoding candidates to determine whether at leastone valid DCI exists for the scheduled entity 700 within the searchspace. For example, for each decoding candidate, the DL traffic andcontrol channel reception and processing circuitry 742 may check whetherthe CRC was successfully decoded with the appropriate UE ID (e.g., theID specific to the scheduled entity 700 or a group ID associated withthe scheduled entity), and if so, determine that the decoding candidaterepresents a valid DCI (e.g., contains a PDCCH with DCI for thatscheduled entity).

In some examples, the DL traffic and control channel reception andprocessing circuitry 742 may be configured to identify one or moreuplink search spaces (e.g., within a PDCCH transmitted in a DL burst)when the slot information indicates that the slot is an uplink-centricslot. The DL traffic and control channel reception and processingcircuitry 742 may be configured to identify one or more downlink searchspaces (e.g., within a PDCCH transmitted in a DL burst) when the slotinformation indicates that the slot is a downlink-centric slot. The sizeof the uplink and downlink search spaces may be the same or different.In some examples, the uplink and downlink search spaces are associatedwith common search spaces. In other examples, the uplink and downlinksearch space sizes are associated with UE-specific search spaces.

In some examples, the DL traffic and control channel reception andprocessing circuitry 742 may be configured to identify one or moresearch spaces that are subsets of another search space. For example, theDL traffic and control channel reception and processing circuitry 742may be configured to identify a large search space when the slotinformation indicates that the slot is a downlink-centric slot and asmaller search space within the large search space when the slotinformation indicates that the slot is an uplink-centric slot. In thisexample, the resource elements (CCEs) defined for the large search spacemay include the resource elements (CCEs) defined for the small searchspace. By defining the uplink search space within the downlink searchspace, the scheduled entity may still be able to blind decode thenecessary decoding candidates when the slot information fails toindicate whether the current slot is downlink-centric or uplink-centric.For example, if the scheduled entity is unable to decode the overheadchannel, such as the PCFICH, to determine whether the slot isdownlink-centric or uplink-centric, the scheduled entity may still beable to blind decode the correct decoding candidates.

In some examples, the DL traffic and control channel reception andprocessing circuitry 742 may be configured to identify one or moresearch spaces based on the number of scheduled entitiestransmitting/receiving user data traffic in the current slot. In someexamples, the slot information may indicate the number of scheduledentities, and the DL traffic and control channel reception andprocessing circuitry 742 may compare the number of scheduled entities toa threshold number of scheduled entities. If the number of scheduledentities transmitting/receiving user data traffic in the slot is greaterthan (or greater than or equal to) the threshold number of scheduledentities, a larger search space may be identified, whereas if the numberof scheduled entities transmitting or receiving user data traffic in theslot is less than (or less than or equal to) the threshold number ofscheduled entities, a smaller search space may be identified. In someexamples, the slot information may indicate whether the number ofscheduled entities is greater than or less than the threshold.

In some examples, the DL traffic and control channel reception andprocessing circuitry 742 may be configured to identify one or moresearch spaces based on the slot index identifying the slot. As anexample, one or more slots may be reserved for large bandwidth user datatraffic, and a particular search space may be utilized for these slots.In general, the number of scheduled entities served by a slot carryinglarge bandwidth user data traffic may be small, and therefore, a smallersearch space may be identified for this type of slot.

In some examples, the DL traffic and control channel reception andprocessing circuitry 742 may be configured to identify one or moresearch spaces based on whether the slot includes mini-slots. Forexample, if the slot information indicates that the slot contains two ormore mini-slots, a larger search space may be identified as compared toa slot that does not contain any mini-slots. In addition, the slotinformation may further indicate the number of mini-slots, and the DLtraffic and control channel reception and processing circuitry 742 maybe configured to identify different search spaces based on the number ofmini-slots included within a slot.

In some examples, the DL traffic and control channel reception andprocessing circuitry 742 may be configured to identify one or moresearch spaces based on whether the search space may be separatelyconfigured for the scheduled entity. In some examples, the search spaceof the current slot may be empty. If the search space is empty, the DLtraffic and control channel reception and processing circuitry 742 maybe configured to inhibit blind decoding of any search spaces in thecontrol region. The DL traffic and control channel reception andprocessing circuitry 742 may operate in coordination with DL traffic andcontrol channel reception and processing software 752.

FIG. 8 illustrates examples of slots containing different placements ofthe sounding reference signal 808 within an uplink-centric slot 500according to aspects of the disclosure. The uplink-centric slot 500includes a downlink control region 802 and an uplink region 804. Thedownlink control region 802 may include a downlink (DL) burst 502 withinwhich the scheduling entity may transmit downlink control information.Following a GP 504, within the uplink region 804, the scheduled entitymay transmit an uplink demodulation reference signal 806, a soundingreference signal 808, uplink user data traffic in an UL traffic region506 and uplink control information in an UL control region (UL commonburst) 508.

In some examples, the SRS 808 may be located at the end of the uplinkregion 804 or near the beginning of the uplink region 804. For example,as shown in uplink-centric slot 500 a, the SRS 808 may be located afterthe UL traffic region 506 and the UP common burst 508. By transmittingthe SRS 808 at the end of the uplink-centric slot, the scheduling entitymay be provided more time to process the uplink user data traffic in theUL traffic region 506 and generate acknowledgement information thereforeprior to the next slot.

In the example illustrated by uplink-centric slot 500 b, the SRS may belocated at the beginning of the uplink region 804. In this example, theSRS may be placed prior to the DMRS 806 to provide better uplink channelestimation for the uplink user data traffic and uplink controlinformation (e.g., PUSCH/PUCCH). In the example illustrated byuplink-centric slot 500 c, the SRS 808 may be placed after the DMRS 806to enable DMRS alignment between the uplink-centric slot and adownlink-centric slot transmitted in an adjacent cell.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating a process 900 for wirelesscommunication with optimized placement of the sounding reference signalin an uplink-centric slot according to an aspect of the disclosure. Asdescribed below, some or all illustrated features may be omitted in aparticular implementation within the scope of the present disclosure,and some illustrated features may not be required for implementation ofall embodiments. In some examples, the process 900 may be carried out bythe scheduled entity illustrated in FIG. 7. In some examples, theprocess 900 may be carried out by any suitable apparatus or means forcarrying out the functions or algorithm described below.

At block 902, the scheduled entity may receive downlink controlinformation in a downlink (DL) control region of an uplink-centric slot.For example, the DL traffic and control channel reception and processingcircuitry 742 shown and described above in connection with FIG. 7 mayreceive the downlink control information. In some examples, the processmay proceed to block 904, where the scheduled entity may then transmituplink information (e.g., at least one of the uplink user data trafficor uplink control information) in an uplink (UL) region of theuplink-centric slot. At block 906, the scheduled entity may thentransmit a sounding reference signal (SRS) at the end of the UL regionof the uplink-centric slot. For example, the scheduled entity maytransmit the SRS after transmission of the uplink information.

In other examples, following reception of the downlink controlinformation at block 902, the process may proceed to block 908, wherethe scheduled entity may transmit the SRS near the beginning of the ULregion of the uplink-centric slot. At block 910, the scheduled entitymay then transmit the uplink information in the UL region of theuplink-centric slot. Thus, the uplink user data traffic and/or uplinkcontrol information may be transmitted after transmission of the SRS.For example, the UL traffic and control channel generation andtransmission circuitry 741 shown and described above in connection withFIG. 7 may generate and transmit the uplink user data traffic, uplinkcontrol information, and SRS.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating a process 1000 for wirelesscommunication with optimized placement of the sounding reference signalin an uplink-centric slot according to an aspect of the disclosure. Asdescribed below, some or all illustrated features may be omitted in aparticular implementation within the scope of the present disclosure,and some illustrated features may not be required for implementation ofall embodiments. In some examples, the process 1000 may be carried outby the scheduled entity illustrated in FIG. 7. In some examples, theprocess 1000 may be carried out by any suitable apparatus or means forcarrying out the functions or algorithm described below.

At block 1002, the scheduled entity may receive downlink controlinformation in a DL control region of an uplink-centric slot. Forexample, the DL traffic and control channel reception and processingcircuitry 742 shown and described above in connection with FIG. 7 mayreceive the downlink control information. At 1004, the scheduled entitymay transmit a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) within an UL regionof the uplink-centric slot. The DMRS may be transmitted, for example, ator near the beginning of an UL traffic region of the uplink-centricslot. For example, the UL traffic and control channel generation andtransmission circuitry 741 shown and described above in connection withFIG. 7 may generate and transmit the DMRS within the uplink region ofthe uplink-centric slot.

In some examples, the process may proceed to block 1006, where thescheduled entity may then transmit an SRS after transmission of the DMRSwithin the UL region of the uplink-centric slot. At block 1008, thescheduled entity may then transmit uplink information (e.g., at leastone of uplink user data traffic or uplink control information) in the ULregion of the uplink-centric slot. Thus, the uplink information may betransmitted after transmission of the SRS and the DMRS.

In other examples, following transmission of the DMRS at block 1010, thescheduled entity may transmit the uplink information in the UL region ofthe uplink-centric slot. At block 1012, the scheduled entity may thentransmit SRS at the end of the UL region of the uplink-centric slot. Forexample, the scheduled entity may transmit the SRS after transmission ofthe uplink user data traffic and/or uplink control information. Forexample, the UL traffic and control channel generation and transmissioncircuitry 741 shown and described above in connection with FIG. 7 maygenerate and transmit the uplink user data traffic, uplink controlinformation, and SRS.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating a process 1100 for wirelesscommunication with optimized placement of the sounding reference signalin an uplink-centric slot according to an aspect of the disclosure. Asdescribed below, some or all illustrated features may be omitted in aparticular implementation within the scope of the present disclosure,and some illustrated features may not be required for implementation ofall embodiments. In some examples, the process 1100 may be carried outby the scheduled entity illustrated in FIG. 7. In some examples, theprocess 1100 may be carried out by any suitable apparatus or means forcarrying out the functions or algorithm described below.

At block 1102, the scheduled entity may receive downlink controlinformation in a DL control region of an uplink-centric slot. Forexample, the DL traffic and control channel reception and processingcircuitry 742 shown and described above in connection with FIG. 7 mayreceive the downlink control information. At block 1104, the scheduledentity may transmit an SRS at or near the beginning of an UL region ofthe uplink-centric slot. At block 1106, the scheduled entity may thentransmit a DMRS within the UL region of the uplink-centric slot aftertransmission of the SRS.

At block 1108, the scheduled entity may then transmit uplink information(e.g., at least one of uplink user data traffic or uplink controlinformation) in the UL region of the uplink-centric slot. Thus, theuplink information may be transmitted after transmission of both the SRSand the DMRS. For example, the UL traffic and control channel generationand transmission circuitry 741 shown and described above in connectionwith FIG. 7 may generate and transmit the uplink user data traffic,uplink control information, DMRS, and SRS.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart illustrating a process 1200 for wirelesscommunication with optimized placement of the sounding reference signalin an uplink-centric slot according to an aspect of the disclosure. Asdescribed below, some or all illustrated features may be omitted in aparticular implementation within the scope of the present disclosure,and some illustrated features may not be required for implementation ofall embodiments. In some examples, the process 1200 may be carried outby the scheduled entity illustrated in FIG. 7. In some examples, theprocess 1200 may be carried out by any suitable apparatus or means forcarrying out the functions or algorithm described below.

At block 1202, the scheduled entity may receive SRS informationindicating the location of an SRS within an uplink-centric slot. In someexamples, the SRS information may be received within the DL controlregion of one or more slots. In other examples, the SRS information maybe received via one or more of a radio resource control configurationmessage, a master information block, or a system information block. Atblock 1204, the scheduled entity may receive downlink controlinformation in a DL control region of the uplink-centric slot. Forexample, the DL traffic and control channel reception and processingcircuitry 742 shown and described above in connection with FIG. 7 mayreceive the SRS information and the downlink control information.

In some examples, the process may proceed to block 1206, where thescheduled entity may then transmit uplink information (e.g., at leastone of uplink user data traffic or uplink control information) in an ULregion of the uplink-centric slot. At block 1208, the scheduled entitymay then transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS) at the end of the ULregion of the uplink-centric slot. For example, the scheduled entity maytransmit the SRS after transmission of the uplink information.

In other examples, following reception of the downlink controlinformation at block 1204, the process may proceed to block 1210, wherethe scheduled entity may transmit the SRS near the beginning of the ULregion of the uplink-centric slot. At block 1212, the scheduled entitymay then transmit the uplink information (e.g., at least one of uplinkuser data traffic or uplink control information) in the UL region of theuplink-centric slot. Thus, the uplink user data traffic and/or uplinkcontrol information may be transmitted after transmission of the SRS.For example, the UL traffic and control channel generation andtransmission circuitry 741 shown and described above in connection withFIG. 7 may generate and transmit the uplink user data traffic, uplinkcontrol information, and SRS.

In one configuration, a scheduled entity apparatus within a wirelesscommunication network includes means for receiving downlink controlinformation in a downlink control region of a slot of the plurality ofslots, means for transmitting uplink information including at least oneof uplink control information or uplink user data traffic correspondingto the downlink control information in an uplink region of the slot, andmeans for transmitting a sounding reference signal in the uplink regionof the slot. The sounding reference signal is transmitted prior totransmitting the uplink information or after transmitting the uplinkinformation.

In one aspect, the aforementioned means for receiving downlink controlinformation in the downlink link control region of the slot, means fortransmitting uplink information in the uplink region of the slot, andmeans for transmitting a sounding reference signal in the uplink regionof the slot may be the transceiver 710 and the processor(s) 704 shown inFIG. 7 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementionedmeans. For example, the aforementioned means for receiving the downlinkcontrol information in the downlink control region of the slot mayinclude the transceiver 710 and the DL traffic and control channelreception and processing circuitry 742 shown in FIG. 7. As anotherexample, the aforementioned means for transmitting the uplinkinformation in the uplink region of the slot and the means fortransmitting the sounding reference signal in the uplink region of theslot may include the transceiver 710 and the UL traffic and controlchannel generation and transmission circuitry 741 shown in FIG. 7. Inanother aspect, the aforementioned means may be a circuit or anyapparatus configured to perform the functions recited by theaforementioned means.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a slot 1300 containingslot information 1302 and an optimized search space 1304 according tosome aspects of the disclosure. The slot 1300 may be an uplink-centricslot or a downlink-centric slot and may be received by a scheduledentity, for example, as a current slot (e.g., Slot N) within a pluralityof slots. The slot 1300 (e.g., either an uplink-centric slot or adownlink-centric slot) may further include a DL burst 1306 carryingdownlink control information.

In the example shown in FIG. 13, the DL burst 1306 includes the slotinformation 1302 that indicates one or more attributes of the slot 1300.Examples of attributes within the slot information 1302 may include, butare not limited to, the type of slot (e.g., uplink-centric ordownlink-centric), the type of user data traffic transmitted in theslot, the number of scheduled entities served in the slot (e.g., thenumber of scheduled entities transmitting/receiving user data traffic inthe slot), the number of mini-slots included within the slot,user-specific slot attributes, and/or a slot index identifying the slot.

The slot information 1302 may be carried within, for example, anoverhead channel transmitted within the slot 1300, such as the PCFICH.The slot information 1302 may then be utilized to identify one or moresearch spaces 1304 within the first N symbols (e.g., within the DL burst1306) of the slot 1300. Each search space corresponds to a set ofresource elements (e.g., contiguous CCEs) that includes a plurality ofdecoding candidates. The identified search space(s) 1304 may be commonsearch spaces and/or UE-specific search spaces.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of slots 1300 a and 1300 bcontaining slot information 1302 and an optimized search space 1304according to some aspects of the disclosure. Each of the slots 1300 aand 1300 b may be either an uplink-centric slot or a downlink-centricslot. In addition, each of the slots 1300 a and 1300 b may be receivedby a scheduled entity, where slot 1300 a is received prior to slot 1300b. For example, slot 1300 a may correspond Slot N and slot 1300 b maycorrespond to Slot N+K, where K≥1. Thus, slot 1300 b may be received Kslots after Slot N. Each of the slots 1300 a and 1300 b (e.g., either anuplink-centric slot or a downlink-centric slot) may further include arespective DL burst 1306 a and 1306 b carrying downlink controlinformation.

In the example shown in FIG. 14, the DL burst 1306 a of slot 1300 a(Slot N) includes the slot information 1302 that indicates one or moreattributes of slot 1300 b (Slot N+K). Examples of attributes within theslot information 1302 may include, but are not limited to, the type ofslot (e.g., uplink-centric or downlink-centric), the type of user datatraffic transmitted in the slot, the number of scheduled entities servedin the slot (e.g., the number of scheduled entitiestransmitting/receiving user data traffic in the slot), the number ofmini-slots included within the slot, user-specific slot attributes,and/or a slot index identifying the slot.

The slot information 1302 may be carried within, for example, the PDCCH(e.g., DCI) or other control signal within the DL burst 1306 a of slot1300 a. The slot information 1302 may then be utilized to identify oneor more search spaces 1304 within the first N symbols (e.g., within theDL burst 1306 b) of slot 1300 b (Slot N+K). Each search spacecorresponds to a set of resource elements (e.g., contiguous CCEs) thatincludes a plurality of decoding candidates. The identified searchspace(s) 1304 may be common search spaces and/or UE-specific searchspaces.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart illustrating a process 1500 for wirelesscommunication with optimized search spaces in slots according to anaspect of the disclosure. As described below, some or all illustratedfeatures may be omitted in a particular implementation within the scopeof the present disclosure, and some illustrated features may not berequired for implementation of all embodiments. In some examples, theprocess 1500 may be carried out by the scheduled entity illustrated inFIG. 7. In some examples, the process 1500 may be carried out by anysuitable apparatus or means for carrying out the functions or algorithmdescribed below.

At block 1502, the scheduled entity may receive a slot including aphysical downlink control channel containing downlink controlinformation (DCI). For example, the DL traffic and control channelreception and processing circuitry 742 shown and described above inconnection with FIG. 7 may receive the slot.

At block 1504, the scheduled entity may identify one or more searchspaces within the slot (e.g., within a downlink control region of theslot) based on slot information related to the slot. For example, theslot information may indicate one or more attributes of the slot,including, but not limited to, the type of slot (e.g., uplink-centric ordownlink-centric), the type of user data traffic transmitted in theslot, the number of scheduled entities served in the slot (e.g., thenumber of scheduled entities transmitting/receiving user data traffic inthe slot), the number of mini-slots included within the slot,user-specific slot attributes, and/or a slot index identifying the slot.The slot information may be known (e.g., the slot index may be known),may be received within the current slot (e.g., within an overheadchannel, such as the PCFICH), or may be received within a previous slot.

In some examples, the scheduled entity may compare the slot informationfor the slot to search space information, which may indicate respectivesearch spaces and corresponding slot information for each of therespective search spaces. In some examples, the scheduled entity mayreceive the search space information within one or more broadcastsignals. For example, the search space information may be receivedwithin one or more MIBs, SIBs, and/or RRC configuration messages. Thescheduled entity may compare the slot information of the current slotwith the search space information to identify the particular searchspace(s) within the current slot. The identified search space(s) may becommon search spaces and/or UE-specific search spaces. In addition, thestarting point (or offset) within the control region of the slot foreach search space may be specific to the scheduled entity. For example,the DL traffic and control channel reception and processing circuitry742 shown and described above in connection with FIG. 7 may identifysearch space(s) within the slot based on the slot information.

Each search space corresponds to a set of resource elements (e.g.,contiguous

CCEs) that includes a plurality of decoding candidates. For eachidentified search space, at block 1506, the scheduled entity may furtherbe configured to blind decode decoding candidates within the searchspace to determine whether at least one valid DCI exists for thescheduled entity within the search space. For example, for each decodingcandidate, the scheduled entity may check whether the CRC wassuccessfully decoded with the appropriate UE ID (e.g., the ID specificto the scheduled entity r a group ID associated with the scheduledentity), and if so, determine that the decoding candidate represents avalid DCI (e.g., contains a PDCCH with DCI for that scheduled entity).For example, the DL traffic and control channel reception and processingcircuitry 742 shown and described above in connection with FIG. 7 mayperform blind decoding of the decoding candidates within each identifiedsearch space.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart illustrating a process 1600 for wirelesscommunication with optimized search spaces in slots according to anaspect of the disclosure. As described below, some or all illustratedfeatures may be omitted in a particular implementation within the scopeof the present disclosure, and some illustrated features may not berequired for implementation of all embodiments. In some examples, theprocess 1600 may be carried out by the scheduled entity illustrated inFIG. 7. In some examples, the process 1600 may be carried out by anysuitable apparatus or means for carrying out the functions or algorithmdescribed below.

At block 1602, the scheduled entity may receive slot information relatedto a slot. The slot information may indicate the type of slot (e.g.,uplink-centric or downlink-centric). The slot information may bereceived within the slot itself or within a previous slot. For example,the DL traffic and control channel reception and processing circuitry742 shown and described above in connection with FIG. 7 may receive theslot information.

At block 1604, the scheduled entity may receive the slot (e.g., adownlink-centric slot or an uplink-centric slot) including a physicaldownlink control channel (PDCCH) containing downlink control information(DCI). For example, the DL traffic and control channel reception andprocessing circuitry 742 shown and described above in connection withFIG. 7 may receive the slot.

At block 1606, the scheduled entity may determine whether the slotinformation indicates that the slot is an uplink-centric slot. If theslot is an uplink-centric slot (Y branch of block 1606), at block 1608,the scheduled entity may identify a first search space including a firstset of resource elements (e.g., within a downlink control region of theslot) for the uplink-centric slot. If the slot is a downlink-centricslot (N branch of block 1606), at block 1610, the scheduled entity mayidentify a second search space including a second set of resourceelements (e.g., within a downlink control region of the slot) for thedownlink-centric slot. In some examples, the scheduled entity maycompare the slot information for the slot to search space information,which may indicate respective search spaces for uplink-centric slots anddownlink-centric slots. In some examples, the first and second searchspaces may be different. For example, the DL traffic and control channelreception and processing circuitry 742 shown and described above inconnection with FIG. 7 may identify search space(s) within the slotbased on the slot information.

At block 1612, the scheduled entity may further be configured to blinddecode decoding candidates within the identified search space (e.g., thefirst search space or the second search space) to determine whether atleast one valid DCI exists for the scheduled entity within theidentified search space. For example, for each decoding candidate, thescheduled entity may check whether the CRC was successfully decoded withthe appropriate UE ID (e.g., the ID specific to the scheduled entity r agroup ID associated with the scheduled entity), and if so, determinethat the decoding candidate represents a valid DCI (e.g., contains aPDCCH with DCI for that scheduled entity). For example, the DL trafficand control channel reception and processing circuitry 742 shown anddescribed above in connection with FIG. 7 may perform blind decoding ofthe decoding candidates within the identified search space(s).

FIG. 17 is a flow chart illustrating a process 1700 for wirelesscommunication with optimized search spaces in slots according to anaspect of the disclosure. As described below, some or all illustratedfeatures may be omitted in a particular implementation within the scopeof the present disclosure, and some illustrated features may not berequired for implementation of all embodiments. In some examples, theprocess 1700 may be carried out by the scheduled entity illustrated inFIG. 7. In some examples, the process 1700 may be carried out by anysuitable apparatus or means for carrying out the functions or algorithmdescribed below.

At block 1702, the scheduled entity may receive slot information relatedto a slot. The slot information may indicate the number of scheduledentities served in the slot (e.g., the number of scheduled entitiestransmitting/receiving user data traffic in the slot). In some examples,the slot information may be received within the slot itself. Forexample, the DL traffic and control channel reception and processingcircuitry 742 shown and described above in connection with FIG. 7 mayreceive the slot information.

At block 1704, the scheduled entity may receive the slot (e.g., adownlink-centric slot or an uplink-centric slot) including a physicaldownlink control channel (PDCCH) containing downlink control information(DCI). For example, the DL traffic and control channel reception andprocessing circuitry 742 shown and described above in connection withFIG. 7 may receive the slot.

At block 1706, the scheduled entity may determine whether the number ofscheduled entities is less than a threshold number of scheduledentities. If the number of scheduled entities is less than (or less thanor equal to) the threshold (Y branch of block 1706), at block 1708, thescheduled entity may identify a first search space including a first setof resource elements (e.g., within a downlink control region of theslot). If the number of scheduled entities is greater than (or greaterthan or equal to) the threshold (N branch of block 1706), at block 1710,the scheduled entity may identify a second search space including asecond set of resource elements (e.g., within a downlink control regionof the slot). In some examples, the scheduled entity may compare theslot information for the slot to search space information, which mayindicate respective search spaces based on the number of scheduledentities. In some examples, the second search space size is larger thanthe first search space size to accommodate the number of DCI needed tobe transmitted in the slot. For example, the DL traffic and controlchannel reception and processing circuitry 742 shown and described abovein connection with FIG. 7 may identify search space(s) within the slotbased on the slot information.

At block 1712, the scheduled entity may further be configured to blinddecode decoding candidates within the identified search space (e.g., thefirst search space or the second search space) to determine whether atleast one valid DCI exists for the scheduled entity within theidentified search space. For example, for each decoding candidate, thescheduled entity may check whether the CRC was successfully decoded withthe appropriate UE ID (e.g., the ID specific to the scheduled entity r agroup ID associated with the scheduled entity), and if so, determinethat the decoding candidate represents a valid DCI (e.g., contains aPDCCH with DCI for that scheduled entity). For example, the DL trafficand control channel reception and processing circuitry 742 shown anddescribed above in connection with FIG. 7 may perform blind decoding ofthe decoding candidates within the identified search space(s).

FIG. 18 is a flow chart illustrating a process 1800 for wirelesscommunication with optimized search spaces in slots according to anaspect of the disclosure. As described below, some or all illustratedfeatures may be omitted in a particular implementation within the scopeof the present disclosure, and some illustrated features may not berequired for implementation of all embodiments. In some examples, theprocess 1800 may be carried out by the scheduled entity illustrated inFIG. 7. In some examples, the process 1800 may be carried out by anysuitable apparatus or means for carrying out the functions or algorithmdescribed below.

At block 1802, the scheduled entity may receive slot information relatedto a slot. The slot information may indicate whether the slot includesmini-slots, and if so, the number of mini-slots in the slot. In someexamples, the slot information may be received within the slot itself.For example, the DL traffic and control channel reception and processingcircuitry 742 shown and described above in connection with FIG. 7 mayreceive the slot information.

At block 1804, the scheduled entity may receive the slot (e.g., adownlink-centric slot or an uplink-centric slot) including a physicaldownlink control channel (PDCCH) containing downlink control information(DCI). For example, the DL traffic and control channel reception andprocessing circuitry 742 shown and described above in connection withFIG. 7 may receive the slot.

At block 1806, the scheduled entity may determine whether the slotincludes mini-slots (e.g., two or more mini-slots). If the slot includesmini-slots (Y branch of block 1806), at block 1808, the scheduled entitymay identify a first search space including a first set of resourceelements (e.g., within a downlink control region of the slot). If theslot lacks mini-slots (N branch of block 1806), at block 1810, thescheduled entity may identify a second search space including a secondset of resource elements (e.g., within a downlink control region of theslot). In some examples, the scheduled entity may compare the slotinformation for the slot to search space information, which may indicaterespective search spaces based on whether the slot includes mini-slots.In some examples, the size of the first search space is larger than thesecond search space since each of the mini-slots may require separatescheduling, thus increasing the amount of PDCCH resources needed in theslot. In addition, the first search space size may vary based on thenumber of mini-slots included within the slot. For example, the DLtraffic and control channel reception and processing circuitry 742 shownand described above in connection with FIG. 7 may identify searchspace(s) within the slot based on the slot information.

At block 1812, the scheduled entity may further be configured to blinddecode decoding candidates within the identified search space (e.g., thefirst search space or the second search space) to determine whether atleast one valid DCI exists for the scheduled entity within theidentified search space. For example, for each decoding candidate, thescheduled entity may check whether the CRC was successfully decoded withthe appropriate UE ID (e.g., the ID specific to the scheduled entity r agroup ID associated with the scheduled entity), and if so, determinethat the decoding candidate represents a valid DCI (e.g., contains aPDCCH with DCI for that scheduled entity). For example, the DL trafficand control channel reception and processing circuitry 742 shown anddescribed above in connection with FIG. 7 may perform blind decoding ofthe decoding candidates within the identified search space(s).

In one configuration, a scheduled entity apparatus within a wirelesscommunication network includes means for receiving a slot of theplurality of slots, where the slot includes a physical downlink controlchannel (PDCCH), and the PDCCH includes downlink control information(DCI) for a set of one or more scheduled entities. The scheduled entityapparatus further includes means for identifying a search spaceincluding a set of resource elements within the slot based on slotinformation related to the slot, where the slot information indicates atleast one attribute of the slot, and the at least one attribute of theslot includes at least one of a slot type of the slot, a number ofscheduled entities scheduled in the slot, or a slot index of the slot.The scheduled entity apparatus further includes means for blind decodinga plurality of decoding candidates within the set of resource elementsto determine whether at least one valid DCI exists for a scheduledentity of the set of one or more scheduled entities.

In one aspect, the aforementioned means for receiving the slot,identifying the search space including the set of resource elementswithin the slot, and blind decoding the plurality of decoding candidateswithin the set of resource elements may be the transceiver 710 and theprocessor(s) 704 shown in FIG. 7. For example, the aforementioned meansmay include the transceiver 710 and the DL traffic and control channelreception and processing circuitry 742 shown in FIG. 7. In anotheraspect, the aforementioned means may be a circuit or any apparatusconfigured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

Several aspects of a wireless communication network have been presentedwith reference to an exemplary implementation. As those skilled in theart will readily appreciate, various aspects described throughout thisdisclosure may be extended to other telecommunication systems, networkarchitectures and communication standards.

By way of example, various aspects may be implemented within othersystems defined by 3GPP, such as Long-Term Evolution (LTE), the EvolvedPacket System (EPS), the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System(UMTS), and/or the Global System for Mobile (GSM). Various aspects mayalso be extended to systems defined by the 3rd Generation PartnershipProject 2 (3GPP2), such as CDMA2000 and/or Evolution-Data Optimized(EV-DO). Other examples may be implemented within systems employing IEEE802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Ultra-Wideband (UWB),Bluetooth, and/or other suitable systems. The actual telecommunicationstandard, network architecture, and/or communication standard employedwill depend on the specific application and the overall designconstraints imposed on the system.

Within the present disclosure, the word “exemplary” is used to mean“serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any implementationor aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to beconstrued as preferred or advantageous over other aspects of thedisclosure. Likewise, the term “aspects” does not require that allaspects of the disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage ormode of operation. The term “coupled” is used herein to refer to thedirect or indirect coupling between two objects. For example, if objectA physically touches object B, and object B touches object C, thenobjects A and C may still be considered coupled to one another—even ifthey do not directly physically touch each other. For instance, a firstobject may be coupled to a second object even though the first object isnever directly physically in contact with the second object. The terms“circuit” and “circuitry” are used broadly, and intended to include bothhardware implementations of electrical devices and conductors that, whenconnected and configured, enable the performance of the functionsdescribed in the present disclosure, without limitation as to the typeof electronic circuits, as well as software implementations ofinformation and instructions that, when executed by a processor, enablethe performance of the functions described in the present disclosure.

One or more of the components, steps, features and/or functionsillustrated in FIGS. 1-18 may be rearranged and/or combined into asingle component, step, feature or function or embodied in severalcomponents, steps, or functions. Additional elements, components, steps,and/or functions may also be added without departing from novel featuresdisclosed herein. The apparatus, devices, and/or components illustratedin FIGS. 1, 2, 6 and/or 7 may be configured to perform one or more ofthe methods, features, or steps described herein. The novel algorithmsdescribed herein may also be efficiently implemented in software and/orembedded in hardware.

It is to be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps inthe methods disclosed is an illustration of exemplary processes. Basedupon design preferences, it is understood that the specific order orhierarchy of steps in the methods may be rearranged. The accompanyingmethod claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order,and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchypresented unless specifically recited therein.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in theart to practice the various aspects described herein. Variousmodifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilledin the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied toother aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to theaspects shown herein, but are to be accorded the full scope consistentwith the language of the claims, wherein reference to an element in thesingular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specificallyso stated, but rather “one or more.” Unless specifically statedotherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. A phrase referring to“at least one of” a list of items refers to any combination of thoseitems, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b,or c” is intended to cover: a; b; c; a and b; a and c; b and c; and a, band c. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of thevarious aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known orlater come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art areexpressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to beencompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein isintended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether suchdisclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. No claim element is tobe construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) unless theelement is expressly recited using the phrase “means for” or, in thecase of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase “stepfor.”

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of wireless communication, comprising: receiving downlink control information in a downlink control region of a slot of a plurality of slots; transmitting uplink information in an uplink region of the slot, wherein the uplink information comprises at least one of uplink control information or uplink user data traffic, wherein at least one of the uplink control information or the uplink user data traffic correspond to the downlink control information; and transmitting a sounding reference signal in the uplink region of the slot after the uplink information.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting an uplink demodulation reference signal in the uplink region of the slot; wherein the uplink demodulation reference signal is transmitted prior to transmitting the uplink information.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising aligning transmission of the uplink demodulation reference signal of the slot with transmission of a downlink demodulation reference signal of an additional slot within an adjacent cell.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving sounding reference signal information indicating a location of the sounding reference signal in the slot.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein receiving the sounding reference signal information further comprises: receiving the sounding reference signal information within the downlink control information in the downlink control region of one or more slots of the plurality of slots.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein receiving the sounding reference signal information further comprises: receiving the sounding reference signal information via one or more of a radio resource control configuration message, a master information block, or a system information block.
 7. A scheduled entity within a wireless communication network, comprising: a processor; a memory communicatively coupled to the processor; and a transceiver communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to: receive downlink control information in a downlink control region of a slot of a plurality of slots via the transceiver; transmit uplink information in an uplink region of the slot via the transceiver, wherein the uplink information comprises at least one of uplink control information or uplink user data traffic, wherein at least one of the uplink control information or the uplink user data traffic correspond to the downlink control information; and transmit a sounding reference signal in the uplink region of the slot after the uplink information via the transceiver.
 8. The scheduled entity of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to: transmit an uplink demodulation reference signal in the uplink region of the slot prior to transmitting the uplink information.
 9. The scheduled entity of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to: align transmission of the uplink demodulation reference signal of the slot with transmission of a downlink demodulation reference signal of an additional slot within an adjacent cell.
 10. The scheduled entity of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to: receive sounding reference signal information indicating a location of the sounding reference signal in the slot.
 11. A method of wireless communication, comprising: receiving a slot of a plurality of slots, wherein the slot comprises a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), wherein the PDCCH comprises downlink control information (DCI) for a set of one or more scheduled entities; identifying a search space comprising a set of resource elements within the slot based on slot information related to the slot, wherein the slot information comprises at least a time-varying parameter associated with the plurality of slots; and blind decoding a plurality of decoding candidates within the set of resource elements to determine whether at least one valid DCI exists for a scheduled entity of the set of one or more scheduled entities.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the time-varying parameter comprises a slot index of the slot.
 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: receiving search space information indicating respective search spaces and corresponding slot types for each of the respective search spaces.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein identifying the search space further comprises: identifying a first search space comprising a first set of resource elements when the slot type of the slot comprises an uplink-centric slot; and identifying a second search space comprising a second set of resource elements when the slot type of the slot comprises a downlink-centric slot.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first search space is different than the second search space.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein identifying the search space further comprises: identifying one of a first search space comprising a first set of resource elements or a second search space comprising a second set of resource elements based on the slot index, wherein the second search space is smaller than the first search space.
 17. The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving the slot information within a previous slot of the plurality of slots.
 18. The method of claim 11, wherein the slot information of the slot further comprises a user specific slot attribute specific to the scheduled entity, and wherein identifying the search space further comprises: identifying the search space within the slot further based on the user specific slot attribute.
 19. The method of claim 11, further comprising: inhibiting blind decoding of the set of resource elements when the search space is empty.
 20. The method of claim 11, wherein the search space comprises one or more of a common search space or a user specific search space.
 21. The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving the slot information via one or more of a radio resource control configuration message, a master information block, or a system information block.
 22. A scheduled entity within a wireless communication network, comprising: a processor; a memory communicatively coupled to the processor; and a transceiver communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to: receive a slot of a plurality of slots, wherein the slot comprises a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), wherein the PDCCH comprises downlink control information (DCI) for a set of one or more scheduled entities; identify a search space comprising a set of resource elements within the slot based on slot information related to the slot, wherein the slot information comprises at least a time-varying parameter associated with the plurality of slots; and blind decode a plurality of decoding candidates within the set of resource elements to determine whether at least one valid DCI exists for a scheduled entity of the set of one or more scheduled entities.
 23. The scheduled entity of claim 22, wherein the time-varying parameter comprises a slot index of the slot.
 24. The scheduled entity of claim 23, wherein the processor is further configured to: receive search space information indicating respective search spaces and corresponding slot types for each of the respective search spaces.
 25. The scheduled entity of claim 24, wherein the processor is further configured to: identify a first search space comprising a first set of resource elements when the slot type of the slot comprises an uplink-centric slot; and identify a second search space comprising a second set of resource elements when the slot type of the slot comprises a downlink-centric slot, wherein the first search space is different than the second search space.
 26. The scheduled entity of claim 23, wherein the processor is further configured to: identify one of a first search space comprising a first set of resource elements or a second search space comprising a second set of resource elements based on the slot index, wherein the second search space is smaller than the first search space.
 27. The scheduled entity of claim 22, wherein the processor is further configured to: receive the slot information within a previous slot of the plurality of slots.
 28. The scheduled entity of claim 22, wherein the slot information of the slot further comprises a user specific slot attribute specific to the scheduled entity, and wherein the processor is further configured to: identify the search space within the slot further based on the user specific slot attribute.
 29. The scheduled entity of claim 22, wherein the processor is further configured to: inhibit blind decoding of the set of resource elements when the search space is empty.
 30. The scheduled entity of claim 22, wherein the search space comprises one or more of a common search space or a user specific search space. 